Tegan and Sara - Similar looks, different personalities.

For a decade now, twin sisters Tegan and Sara have been doing it for themselves and then some. They started playing music when they were in the 10th grade and have been in one band or another together since they were 17. They started out recording demos at their high school recording studio and self-releasing their music on cassette tapes. Since signing their first record deal in 1999, they haven't looked back.

"It only just occurred to me recently that this is what I am," says Sara Quin via phone from a Los Angeles tour stop. "I think about how we both moved to Vancouver and we were touring and didn't make any money. It was a small record deal we had and we toured in a car. Eight years later, we have a whole infrastructure. It feels really natural. When I think about my mental stage back when I was 18,19 and 20, what do you know? Nothing. I wasn't prepared for that responsibility. At 27, it makes more sense now. I don't feel terrified about selling "x' amount of records and paying the band."

Quin insists The Con, the latest Tegan & Sara album, isn't a break-up album. But when you listen to the title track, with its lines like "forget forgotten, I am moving past this, giving notice," it would be hard to see how it's not about a relationship gone bad. But you have to remember that Sara only writes half the tunes.

"It isn't [a break-up album] for me," she says. "Fifty percent of the songwriting is me, and I'm not breaking up. I wasn't writing a break-up album. I was writing from the middle of a long-time relationship where you have anxiety and stress. My songs are about getting to the place where you have so much responsibility. We are responsible for people's lives now. I own a house, and we have record contracts. Life is serious now."

While she won't elaborate on the personal life of singer-songwriter partner Tegan Quin, it's apparent the two took different tacks when it came to writing material for The Con. Sara's songs ("I Was Married," "Relief Next to Me," "Back in Your Head") are about overcoming fears and moving forward. Even "Knife Going In," a song whose title makes it sound like it's about the end of a relationship, is simply about a bad dream Sara had after her grandmother died. While their voices mesh quite nicely (and recall early Throwing Muses material), Sara and Tegan have their differences. That's something Sara readily admits.

"If we didn't look the same, people would think we're very different," she says. "We're like two different types of apples. We have different writing styles and live our lives differently. But we're compatible. People want me to dish. But we've been in a working relationship for 10 years and sisters since conception. I think we're successful at it. If it was so hard to get along, we wouldn't be in a band."

And the gals have certainly put their time in. They initially started touring Canada extensively before hopping on tours with Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright and Melissa Ferrick that took them to other parts of the world. Despite the hard work and constant touring, 2000's The Business of Art didn't sell. Yet the group persevered and had a hit with 2004's So Jealous, which yielded "Walking with a Ghost," an eerie number that's since been roughed up by the White Stripes, who released their raucous cover of it as a single.

"I loved it," Quin says of the Stripes' version. "We knew it was happening and we heard they were playing it live. We had never heard it and then we were in Detroit and [Stripes' drummer] Meg [White] came down and played it for us. It's impossible to have that experience and not like it. I love it because it was great Meg was there and then took us bowling afterward."

Produced by Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie), The Con veers from PJ Harvey-like rockers (the title track) to off-kilter folk ballads ("I Was Married") and electronica excursions ("Are You Ten Years Ago"), all the while featuring the duo's unique, caterwauling vocals that are simply beyond comparison. For recording the album, Walla convinced the duo to temporarily move to Portland, Oregon, where they spent two months in two different studios laying down the tracks. Walla does a great job of balancing the complex instrumentation and seamlessly incorporating guest musicians such as Death Cab's Jason McGerr, AFI's Hunter Burgan and the Rentals' Matt Sharp.

"I love him," Quin says of Walla. "He's so smart and interesting and has a crazy encyclopedia in his brain. We're day people and not stay-into-the-night-and-drink- Jack-Daniels people. We got along. You need people who are passionate even though they're just hired guns. They have to understand our manifesto. He fit in."

Too punk to be considered folk and too folk to be considered punk, Tegan & Sara inhabit a singular position in the indie-rock landscape that even leaves Quin at a loss for words.

"It's really hard [to say what we sound like]," Quin admits. "It's the same way people come up to me and say there's something about me that reminds them of [actress] Alyssa Milano. Bands we're compared to don't sound like us. I don't know who we sound like. That's become more apparent. People who like us are often in hardcore or punk bands. That's strange because we're so wimpy, but there's something about the words and structure and melodies that appeal to the punk world."

There's a literary sensibility to many of the songs, too. The duo freely uses poetic metaphors ("that thunder moves like damn drawers slamming in my frame") and narrative structures ("Are You Ten Years Ago") that seem like something that came out of a creative writing workshop.

"I don't read a lot of poetry, but I'm an avid reader," Quin says. "I love words and reading and there's a way of writing that I find that's fluid. I'm a huge fan of certain lyricists."

Given their sensitivity to language, you'd think they'd have second thoughts about calling an album The Con. After all, you don't want your audience to think it's getting taken advantage of.

"It was Tegan who spearheaded it and Chris [Walla] got on board after that," Quin admits. "Conceptually, everything we have came up because of the title and the bookish theme. The definition of "the con' really worked for both of us. I'm an "everything is great on the outside but not on the inside' person, and it applies to where we're at. I've grown to love it, though at first, I thought, "Is that a Nic Cage movie?' But once you build the imagery, it works for me."

Tegan & Sara, Northern State
8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25
House of Blues
308 Euclid Ave.
216.241.5555
Tickets: $20-$29.50